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JAMES S. SMITH, OF NEW' YORK, N. Y.

. l OFFICER/S SHOULDER-STRAP.

Specification of Letters 4Patent No. 32,588, dated June 18, 1861.

To all whom it muy concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES S. SMITH, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Otlicers Shoulder-Straps; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a top view of a shoulder strap, and Fig. same.

Similar letters of reference indicate correlsponding parte in both figures.

The shoulder straps worn by commissioned military and naval oliicers, have heretofore always had the border and bars or other devices denoting' the oiticers rank embroidered upon them with bullion, which is very expensive and vsoon becomes disigured by constant wear; and owing to the little demand for this kind of work, in ordinary times, and the consequently small number of persons capable of performing it, very muchA ditliculty is found in. meeting the demand at a time when like the present, a large military force has to be clothed and equipped with the utmost expedition. y

My invention relates to a new article of manufacture to constitute a substitute for the embroidered bullion shoulder strap which will be cheaper, more durable, capable of being' renovated when tarnished or otherwise distigured by wear, `and which canbe quickly made in large numbers whenever required; such new article of manufacture consisting in a shoulder strap having it-s border and bars or other devices composed of pla-tes of 2, a longitudinal section of thef metal stamped or otherwise wrought to give their surfaces the form of bullion embroidery and gilt or plated and burnished to give them the desired appearance.

The .simplest way of producing the metal which is to take the place of the embroidery on the strap is to cut from sheet-brass or other suitable" metal, pieces of the form of the devices a, Z), Z), commonly embroidered, and stamp up the said pieces in a suitably formed die to give their surface the requisite configura-tion representing the bullion.. The pieces should then have soldered to their backs pieces of wire c, c, shown in Fig. 2, to pass through the cloth CZ, of which the strap is composed, and be bent under it to form clasps to secure them to the strap( They are afterward gilt or silvered, and finished by burnishing, when they are ready for application to the strap and whenever tarnished or disfgured, can be removed and regilt, and re-burnished at trifling expense. Instead of being attached to the strap by pins c, c, the pieces o, Z), may be sewed on, either with fine wire or thread.

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent as a new article of manufacture, is,

An oflicers shoulder strap having its border and bars or other devices composed of plates of metal stamped or otherwise wrought to give their surfaces the form, and gilt or .silvered and burnished to give them the appearanceof bullion embroidery.

JAMES S. SMITH.

Witnesses M. `M. LIVINGSTON, LEWIS A. TUCKER. 

